FORMER Longbridge workers who contracted a serious lung complaint are being denied incapacity payments while ex-colleagues with asthma collect #62 a week.

Twenty-four Powertrain exemployees who developed the debilitating condition alveolitis cannot apply for disability benefits, despite facing the possibility of a lifetime of suffering.

Neither MG Rover's insurers nor other suppliers have admitted liability, and compensation potentially worth #4 million will now be sought in a courtroom showdown.

TGWU and Amicus officials are now pressing for alveolitis sufferers to be made eligible for lifelong payouts of between #24 and #62 a week in incapacity or disability benefit.

To win state cash, extrinsic allergic alveolitis has to be classified as an industrial disease, but the type of alveolitis caught at the engine plant has traditionally been associated with agricultural work.

Of former Powertrain workers diagnosed with lung disease, 87 have asthma and 24 alveolitis.

One asthma sufferer is former forklift truck driver Raymond Charles, of Sutton Coldfield, who took voluntary redundancy from Powertrain in 2000 after five years of respiratory problems.

He said: "I'm convinced that if I'd stayed working at Powertrain any longer I would have died."

John Walsh, TGWU regional organiser, said: "Most of the occupational asthma sufferers are now receiving some form of pension of between #25 and #62 a week.

"But we are seeking to change the law on this. It is an anomaly we want to sort out, and right this wrong. Alveolitis is a debilitating chest disease whose initial symptoms are sore throats, fatigue and tiredness."

Mr Walsh added that compensation was being pursued on behalf of sufferers from alveolitis as well as asthma.

"There will be claims on behalf of 101 members from Powertrain."

A spokesman for the Department of Work and Pensions said: "Extrinsic allergic alveolitis has been diagnosed in a number of workers from Powertrain.

"It has been brought to the attention of the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council, which advises us on which diseases should be prescribed for compensation under the industrial injuries disablement benefit scheme.

"The advisory council is currently reviewing the evidence and expects to submit recommendations later this year. Extrinsic allergic alveolitis is already prescribed for agricultural work, where it is known to be caused by exposure to mould and fungal spores."

Powertrain employees were ordered to wear masks after five cases of the lung disease were reported in March 2004.